#fake movie but my favorite character is very real

[guinevereslancelot]

blorbo from my completely made up 1970s mobster movie

[fandom]

Memes

At a certain point, it was just hard to keep up. They seemed to fall from the sky like fizzing raindrops, soaking everything in pure wildness—memes, that is. 2022 had an absolute bumper crop of memes. The fertile field of this year’s chaos was sown freely, resulting in some impressively widespread phenomena. Most of it remained pretty contained within the dashboard, but at the end of the year the biggest meme of them all broke containment…We’re getting ahead of ourselves here. 

Cast your mind back to January 2022. We kicked off the year with Horse Plinko, which soon joined forces with Eeby Deeby in a frenzy of flaming gifs in which the poor horse plinko’d its way to Super Hell. Nothing has ever summed up the mildly deranged meme generation process on Tumblr so perfectly. 

This era of memes merged smoothly with the Month of Blorbo. Can you believe blorbo from my shows is more or less purely a 2022 phenomenon? Granted, the original post happened in late 2021, but it was the new year by the time “blorbo” secured itself in our vocabulary. How did we even live our lives on Tumblr without the word “blorbo”? It’s impossible to even imagine at this point. 

Springtime dawned with the rise of Live Slug Reaction, which dominated the dashboard as everyone rushed to plop that shocked slug in the corner of their favorite gay moments from TV and film. And in May came a very important event that would define the rest of the year on Tumblr: the launch of Dracula Daily, Affectionately dubbed “tumblr book club,” the serialized email newsletter found a hugely involved following on Tumblr and spawned an infinite variety of memes, beginning with the iconic paprika recipes. 

The Summer of Morbius dominated Tumblr from June onwards, with everyone going bonkers with Morb-based puns, jokes about the film’s most ridiculous moments, and reblogging a single GIF somehow containing the entire movie that would crash your browser when it played on your dash..

The i love you x i love you y text post meme saw us to the end of the summer, and autumn came with the rise of the GOUGER. Or is it GOUGAR? Regardless, the strange but harmless creature took over everyone’s meme palette for a while, getting involved in increasingly silly scenarios. 

This free-for-all was interrupted by the death of Queen Elizabeth, an event that was solemn everywhere else. . But on Tumblr, of course, users swamped the dashboard with Queen Liz-related memes and commentary. And crabs. There were quite a lot of those.

Later, in September, the Try Guys saga unfolding on Twitter and YouTube filtered over to Tumblr in the form of the “lost focus and had a consensual workplace relationship” meme, with Tumblr users casting various favorite co-worker ships in the roles of the controversial real-life pairing. 

And finally, closing out the year, the meme you’ve all been waiting for: the one and only Goncharov (1973). Just in case you’ve been living under a rock, Goncharov is a movie borne out of the magic combination of a misprinted shoe label and Tumblr’s fertile imagination. Thanks to a fake movie poster by user @beelzeebub, which gave names and faces to the characters, Tumblr ran absolutely wild, churning out analysis, fanart, and even fanfiction at an astounding rate. This was by far the meme to win 2022: it gained coverage all over the internet, including the freaking New York Times, and even Scorsese himself acknowledged it. You did that, Tumblr. Goncharov forever, all hail the power of the Tumblr meme!

[blood-sucking-freaks]

Texas Chainsaw Massacre Facts

TCM is one of my favorite movies so here's some facts :)

-Bubba's real name is not known. Neither is Nubbins. But, at one point Drayton calls Bubba 'Junior', so we know he's either named after Grandpa Sawyer or their late/absentee father, though as neither are named, Bubba's name was never revealed.

-Gunnar Hansen wanted Bubba to be able to speak broken sentences, but the idea was shut down by Tobe Hooper

-Was originally supposed to be titles 'Head Cheese'. The title was later changed to 'Leatherface'. A week before filming was supposed to begin the title was finally changed to 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'.

-The dinner scene was shot in one day. It took 27 hours. It was so hot that the meat was rotting, so between the heat and the smell, cast and crew members were running out of the house every few minutes to throw up. It was filmed in one day because John Dugan, Grandpa Sawyer's actor, refused to sit through the 10 hour makeup process more than once, so all of the scenes with Grandpa had to be filmed at once.

-Most cast and crew, especially Gunnar, didn't like Paul Partain, Franklin's actor, as he stayed in character during the entire process of filming. When the two met again after filming and Gunnar realized that Paul was simply method acting they became close friends up until Paul's death.

-Gunnar was avoided by most people during filming. The cast of Bubba's victims avoided him because they didn't want to be around their killer. Gunnar wasn't allowed to take off his wool costume, so the heavy clothing and the Texan summer heat resulted in him being very smelly.

-Marilyn Burns was really cut during the scene where Grandpa drinks Sally's blood. After multiple takes of the scene, Gunnar got annoyed and secretly took the protective tape off the knife being used and actually cut her to get a more authentic reaction.

-The chainsaw was real and almost hurt several cast and crew members, Gunnar included.

-The armadillo in the beginning of the movie was taxidermized by Tobe Hooper.

-During the time of filming, the 'Sawyer house' was owned and lived in by a family, so the production was only allowed to rent the right section of the house.

-The house is now relocated and restored, and used as a restaurant called the Grand Central Cafe.

-The bones and meat were real, as it was cheaper to rent real human bones and use actual dead animals than to make fake ones.

-Makeup artist Dottie Pearl accidentally injected herself with formaldehyde during the preparations of the dead animals.

-Tobe Hooper got the initial idea for the movie while he was Christmas shopping in the hardware section of a crowded store, when he saw a chainsaw display while thinking of a way to get out of the crowd.

-Edwin Neal, Nubbin's actor, is a Vietnam veteran. When asked how hard filming the movie was, he said that he's rather go back to Vietnam than reshoot the movie. He also said that if he ever saw Tobe Hooper again he might kill him.

-The film was shot mostly in chronological order.

-The last shot filmed was Bubba cutting his leg. Gunnar wore a metal plate over his leg and a piece of meat and a blood bag was placed on top.

-Gunnar's costume had one dyed shirt, so it couldn't be washed during the entire time filming.

-The movie took four weeks of filming every day, though it was only supposed to take two weeks.

-The victim's van belonged to one of the sound recordists, Ted Nicolaou.

-Bubba's teeth were special prosthetics made by Gunnar's dentist.

-At 6'4, Gunnar got multiple slight head injuries due to doorways and other objects. The Leatherface mask limited his peripheral vision severely. Even at his height, he had to wear three inch heels (which makes Bubba canonically 6'7).

-By the last day's shoot, Marilyn Burns' costume was so drenched in blood that it was practically solid. While most of the blood is fake, a lot of it was real, as she got badly cut on branches and undergrowth during the scene where Bubba chases Sally to the gas station,

-During the last night of shooting, the cast got high on pot brownies brought by Dottie Pearl. The brownies had to be hidden when Tobe Hooper's mother visited the set.

-Nubbin's death scene was shot in reverse.

-The narrator for the intro was payed in weed.

-During the scene where Bubba and Nubbins bring Grandpa downstairs, Gunnar kept pushing the rocking chair forwards, sending John falling into Edwin, which left neither party very happy. Gunnar kept doing this until John leaned into his ear and whispered threats.

[whateversawesome]

Part 2: Spy x Family Fic Recommendations

Thanks to Twiyor Valentine Week, organized by @twiyorbase , I’ve been reading a lot of good Spy x Family fics and I thought it was time for a new recommendation list. Here it is:

Paper hearts and mine, by Raxielle: In this story, Yor and Loid play a little Valentine Day game that involves little notes. It’s all fluff, but there’s an elegant twist at the end. A very original idea for an iconic holiday.

I Just Need You Now by EnragedPineapple : Here, Yor gets bullied at work and her husband is there to make her feel loved an appreciated. This fic is very, very sweet.

Playing the Game by Fi2xx : Set in a modern AU, his little multi-chapter tells the story of Loid and Yor going on a first date (and hitting it off, of course). I found this story fresh and endearing. You’ll get invested in the characters right away. 

Floyd and Flor by Fi2xx : Yes, another fic by the same author. Looks like I found a new favorite hehe. This fic is about first kisses. Loid and Yor imagine a first kiss between them with the help of none other than Berlint in Love!

Of fractured halos by platonicau : Remember when Fiona visited the Forgers and was mean to Yor? This fic explores the possibility of Yor talking about that with Loid and him reassuring (and loving) his wife. 

Stay With Me (Will You?) by ariddletobesolved : Anybody up for a sick fic? As you can guess, Yor falls ill and her husband is in charge of taking care of her while she gets healthy again. Sweet and fluffy, that says it all!

Grilled Bear by @tare-anime : An AU in which Twilight and Yor met when they were younger, during the war. I’m not going to spoil it for you, but it’s a beautiful story, very well-written too.

But i'd risk it all just to be with you by @nightofnyx8 : This is without a doubt my new favorite. I got hooked by reading the first line. This story is post-reveal. Here Twilight has faked his dead, but keeps coming back to Yor. When you read it, it’s as if you were watching a scene from a movie. It’s angsty, sexy, and simply beautiful. Do yourself a favor and read it.

And of course the list wouldn’t be complete without fics from Whateversawesome (yeah, that’s me). Those who have read my stories, know how I roll:

Last Days of Operation Strix: In this story, it’s time for Twilight to end Operation Strix, but he has fallen in love with his wife and now he has to choose between being a spy or staying with his family. This is a multi-chapter, full of twists and turns, major angst, but also lots of fluff and plenty of spice. And did I mention it’s now complete?

As a Real Family: A series of pure tooth-rotting fluff about our favorite family, including the newest member of the Forger family aka Twiyor baby.

Until You Come Back to Me: This new multi-chapter is an Eden AU / Actors AU. In this story, Twilight’s mission is to seduce his former love, actress Yor Briar, to manipulate her into spying for him. Needless to say, it starts off pretty angsty, but it’ll also have plenty of fluff along the way.   

That’s it! But there will be more recs soon. There’s a Twiyor fic exchange event going on and once that’s done, I’ll post a new list with all the fics involved in that event. 

And you can see Part 1 of this Spy x family fic rec here.

[secretwriterpp]

Angel voice

Summary: Pedro Pascal x Reader. Karaoke night with friends.

***this is officially my first fic! I had this story in my mind for so long, I had to write it. I’m not even a good writer and English is my second language, so I’m sorry if it’s a tough read. No beta , I don’t know anyone who could help me with this , any volunteers ? ***

Warnings: RPF. Just friendships. A little flirting. I guess … two idiots falling in love.

For the last few months , you always walked hand in hand with your new bestie Sarah. The friendship was new, but it was intense. You met her on the set of an amazing indie film. She was the main character and you were the supporting one. It was a movie about a love story between two inspiring women. Loving Sarah on screen and in real life was easy, it felt like you knew her your whole life.

Tonight was no different, your hand into hers , you walked on the sidewalk together with some of her closest friends. Oscar and Elvira were walking behind you whispering sweet nothings to each other while Pedro was the leader of the pack , goofing around , pretending to be in an action movie , hiding from imaginary bad guys. The little group of friends kindly accepted you as the new member of their pack as soon as Sarah introduced you to them. Since you just recently moved to NYC, it was great to have people you could count on.

You were lost in your thoughts , feeling the warmth of the summer breeze on your face and bare shoulders. Only hearing the buzzing sounds of the city. You were having a hard time realizing how lucky you were to have them, to be exactly where you wanted to be with your acting career, you felt really emotional at that moment. Maybe it was the fatigue from the long days on set or maybe it was the effect of Sarah’s earlier questionable concoctions she called her special drinks , but you could cry. You were so lost in your own head that you jumped when you heard Elvira joyous exclamation.

- YEEEES! Come on guys! It’s been a hot minute since we humiliated ourselves properly!

You heard Pedro hum a barely perceptible « oh nooooo » while he formed a fake gun with his hand and pretended to shoot himself. You snapped out of your thoughts and looked at what Elvira was so excited about. You were pleased to see that is was a karaoke bar.

Only Sarah knew that you were a good singer. She called you her soft angel when you sang for her on set. Your favorite Pink Floyd songs were the soundtrack of your blooming friendship. Truth is , you tried to succeed as a singer/songwriter a few years ago, but it just didn’t happen. It was for the best though, now you knew it. After realizing you would probably never be a recording artist , you decided to focus on your acting career and it paid off.

When you entered the bar , it was very noisy, a mix of people singing and other simply screeching , people cheering and others having animated conversations. Elvira was fast to find you guys a place to sit. She knew she had to move fast so Pedro wouldn’t have a good reason to convince them to leave and escape his worst nightmare. It wasn’t a secret that he didn’t like Karaoke, he didn’t want to sing and he didn’t want other people to butchered all of his favorite songs . He mimicked his best suffering expression when the girl on stage started to sing sweet home Alabama with her shrieking voice.

You guys were seated in a big white U shaped bench wrapped around an oval table , perfect to accommodate your little group. You were squished between Sarah and Pedro who were having a deep conversation about the last movie they saw together. You were not complaining , being with them was so much fun and you had to admit that being so close to Pedro was not bad either. Since you met him, you had a little crush on him. Nothing serious, nothing you would tell him about , it was just a fun little game to flirt with him. And oh boy was he a flirt. The little smiles he did when you spoke about your recent projects, the way his eyes just lingered on your mouth, his hands touching your skin every chance he get, followed with a cute wink when your eyes would meet his. It was nothing your brain said , but the butterflies in your stomach made you wonder which body part of yours was right.

Nobody really paid attention to the people who were on stage , a few times, when the performer was not as bad , the girls and you would cheer and sing along. You don’t know how many drinks you guys were in when Elvira came around the table to talked to Pedro.

- So , what are you going to sing tonight Pedrito? Pedro lost his smile and rolled his eyes.

Sarah laughed : I really don’t know if Elvira really loves karaoke or if she just like seeing Pedro suffer!

Pedro: She hates me! She hates that her husband calls me his girlfriend , she’s jealous and that’s her way to get her revenge.

Elvira: Oh please P , not everything is about you!

Pedro did his most exaggerated shocked face: Excuse me! ?

Elvira : All I want to do is sing a sexy duet with MY husband. (Emphasis on the MY) She winked at Pedro

Oscar was already putting their name on the list , there was still a few people before it would be their turn. On his way back he grabbed a few shots for all of you.

Pedro turned to help Oscar with the shooter glasses: -Your wife sings like an half dead cat , I will need multiples of these.

Elvira punched Pedro on the arm while you and Sarah giggled at their imaginary love triangle.

Sarah: y/n should sing! She will change your mind about karaoke Pedro. She sings like an angel!

You blushed.

Oscar teased his friend : you should sing his favorite song!

Pedro immediately interrupted him, making no signs with his head and both his arms : oh no! No, no, no, no, no. Do not touch Prince. NO!

Sarah: I know! You should sing Dreams! You have the perfect voice for that song. Anyway, you can’t sing any Pink Floyd songs , those are just for me , plus this bar is not the vibe for that.

- Wow Sarah , are you flirting with me ? I have the voice to cover Stevie ? Please , no.

Even if you wanted to protest the song choice , it was too late. Elvira literally jumped out of her seat and was already adding your name to the list. It’s not that you didn’t want to sing , you loved it , but now the pressure was on. What if they didn’t like how you sing it ? What if Pedro didn’t like it ? The moment you met him, you needed him to like you. Was that how you felt with all your past “little crush”? Once again, you were lost in your spinning mind.

Sarah brought you back to earth : - don’t worry , your voice is magical. She thought you were worried about your skills.

For the next hour, you mostly had to listen to bad singers , it was almost torture sometimes. Fortunately, the alcool was smoothly flowing , making it all more bearable. Even Pedro looked like he was having fun. Every time he laughed he immediately clung to the person who made the joke. Resting his head on their shoulder, reaching out to hold their arm or squeeze their tight just above the knee. You couldn’t help and match his energy, every single thing he said that made you laugh you touched his skin. His wrist, his bicep, his neck. You were too far into your gin tonic consumption to care what people would think of it, what he would think of it.

It was finally Oscar and Elvira’s turn to sing. They chose to sing the Dirty Dancing hit “time of my life”

Pedro was exasperated : damn they are so annoyingly cheesy.

That they were , but it was so adorable at the same time. Their love was radiating on stage. Elvira was indeed a bad singer , half dead cat would not be your choice of words, you were too polite for that. Oscar could hold a note , but he kept messing the lyrics of the song, they both laughed in their microphones when they missed a word. You and Sarah cheered for them like it was the most crucial sport event.

———-–—————————————————

Pedro was genuinely having fun. The running gag was that he hated karaoke, he did , but seeing his friends having fun was way more important to him than his hatred of bad singing. Elvira and Oscar were doing their thing on stage and he was impressed by their lack of self awareness. They massacred that poor song. He cheered for them anyways. They ended their performance by doing a little spinning dance move , it was disgusting how much they loved each other.

Pedro could hear you ask Sarah: Seriously Sarah , this kind of love really exists ? Or is it just for them?

Pedro felt a sting in his heart. He wondered why you didn’t believe it could exist? Wondered if someone hurt you in the past. He wasn’t really a big believer in love with a capital L himself , he didn’t really do relationships, but it wasn’t okay with him that you would have this kind of thoughts, that you would feel that way too. It felt unfair. Since he met you, he felt very protective of you. You were so sweet and kind.

Sarah : I think it exists , but theirs is definitely one of a kind.

Elvira was skipping her way to your table , still on her adrenaline high.

-We slayed it!!! Didn’t we ?

-Pedro pointed his right ear : Sorry , I can’t hear you , my ears are bleeding.

Elvira raised her two middle fingers at him and mouthed a very felt “fuck you P”.

Oscar came to his wife defense: you were perfect my love , I’m the one who forgot entire parts of the song. Pedro is just jealous that I didn’t slow dance with him on stage.

Pedro touched your shoulder : hey y/n ! I think it’s your turn. He watched you get up of your seat and walk towards the stage. You looked relaxed and confident. Maybe she really is a good singer he thought or maybe she’s just too tipsy to be bothered by any of this.

He followed your every step. He didn’t realize before that moment how little you were wearing tonight. Just a tiny lilac summer dress. Your legs, shoulders , cleavage , all exposed under the intense stage lights. Your dress was way too short for you to stand close to the edge of the stage. You were not that drunk, he saw you take a few steps back when you realized some creeps in the front were more than happy to look up your dress. You nodded to the host and the song began to play in the loud room.

Dreams was one of his favorite songs. He was a huge Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks fan. Normally, he would dread the moment you would open your mouth to sign his favorite lyrics , but right now he was just curious. He was hypnotized by the way you swayed your hips to the beat. Those few seconds at the beginning of the song felt like minutes to him. Right before you parted your lips to sing your first note you looked at him and winked. He felt everything squeeze inside of him, like his heart stopped. He held his breath , hoping he wouldn’t have to lie to you later and pretend he liked your voice. He felt the urge to cover his ears to avoid to deal with that possibility. But then he heard you.

🎶 Now here you go again, you say you want your freedom

His body instinctively relaxed , but he had to listen more , just to be sure.

🎶 Well, who am I to keep you down?

The noise in the bar significantly went down.

🎶 It’s only right that you should play the way you feel it. But listen carefully to the sound of your loneliness.

- No fucking way ! That’s all Oscar could say looking at Sarah with a surprised expression in his face. Elvira was already clapping hard for you.

- Told you guys , an angel.

🎶 Like a heartbeat, drives you mad

That was his favorite lyric in the song , his jaw dropped slightly. Your voice was soft and smooth. It was definitely different from the original singer but it was beautiful. By the time your were at the chorus he was completely lost in your voice. Feeling the beat passing through the speakers and vibrating straight into his chest. The bar was quiet, everyone dropped their beer to drink at your words instead.

~Maybe he likes karaoke he thought , nooooooo, maybe he likes you. ~

It felt like he was gone for so long when you sang the last words.

🎶 Oh oh oh , you’ll know ….

The crowd went crazy when you finished. And then suddenly his feeling flipped and it felt like he didn’t really have time to enjoy your performance , it went by too fast.

——————————————————-

You smiled at your audience and did a little bow before exiting the stage. You were overwhelmed by the crowd’s reaction. You focused on your group of friends , walking back towards them with the biggest smile on your face. You did it , they liked it.

Elvira was the first one jumping in your arms , she was so excited.

-OMG Baby, you should sing for a living , that was amazing . I feel like I should pay you right now.

You laughed, she was exaggerating , but you were grateful for the compliment. Oscar was next, bowing before you.

- I surrender at your talent , queen of karaoke. El and I will give you our crowns.

Sarah sang proud and loud : I TOLD YOU GUYS!!!

Pedro looked at you with his big brown eyes and his bright smile and pulled you close to hug you. He whispered in your ear

- you almost made me cry.

You stayed in his arms for a while, he held you tight, his chin on your head.

The night slowly came to an end, the conversations began to be more sparse and you all agreed that it it was time to go back to your respective apartment. You went to bed feeling proud and feeling loved. You fell asleep trying to remember how it felt to have his arms wrapped around you.

———————————————————

Pedro was lying in his bed , thinking about the night , about how he felt. What he felt wasn’t new to him, but it was something he didn’t feel for a long time. He didn’t let himself feel that way, he never let himself be in situation that could lead him to feeling that way. When did he let his guard down? That squishing feeling inside his stomach, he could not shake it off. He could not be in love ? It was just silly… He could not be in love just because you had the sweetest singing voice he ever heard ? That’s just stupid. He knew it wasn’t just that. Your hips, your lips, your skin, your eyes , your laugh, your smile.

- Fuck.

[comfortfoodcontent]

2024 X-Men #35 cover by Pepe Larraz

2019-2024 - RIP Krakoa Era X-Men

I love this cover. The art is amazing. It marks the end of the Krakoa era X-Men. It's been on my mind a lot lately and I had to get some thoughts out on it. If you know me, if you ever followed me or my comics site or whatever, you know I was a very loud, very big fan of the Krakoa era at the start, basically up until X of Swords and Hickman's decision to leave. It's finally ending.

2019-2024 - RIP Krakoa Era X-Men

But truthfully it may as well be 2019-2019 -RIP Krakoa Era X-Men. It pretty much failed from the start. I loved HoxPox when it dropped. It was, embarrassing to say now, life changing for me. I thought Hickman was a genius and had found a way to reinvigorate the line and render death as a cheap storytelling gimmick useless. A bunch of my faves were being used and ressurected. I was happier than a pig in shit. I joined Twitter and all the insane X-Fans on there. I started a website and a podcast dedicated to comics. Soon the Covid pandemic started. I was terminally online, my brain rot started and grew worse by the day. It was an insane wild ride that started high and died soon thereafter.

It's hard for me to separate my pretentious Comfort Food Comic media brand time with the pretentious Krakoan Era. Both started out so happily, so full of potential and optimism. To run a site or a podcast in these hellish times you must also play the social media game. Constantly be on there, constantly push your product. Being on Twitter during that time and being part of the X-Community, you start to see how much being on social media fucks you up. You constantly feel like you need to have an opinion on everything, and that it actually matters. You need to be a critic to every piece of media, every decision, every little thing someone says or posts. You lose your grasp on reality, the real world, how to function and interact like a normal human being not stuck hidden behind a screen with your dual public twitter profile and private locked one (something I'm glad to say I never stooped to). It brings you attention. It brings you friends. It pushes your product or brand. It gives you validation and the dopamine rush. It's an addicting, disgusting, fake as hell experience. I was fully caught up in it. It didn't help that I was quarantining and barely leaving my house for a few years. It got me through the pandemic but it also left me so much worse than when I started. Much like how the Krakoan Era treated the X-Men franchise.

Why am I talking about social media so much when I started with X-Men? Well, it felt like this era of publishing went hand in hand with what was being put into the comics. Every creator was constantly on Twitter interacting with fans, always seeing what they had to say. Even Hickman was on there. Dude just wanted to post photos from movies and talk about like what Gen X members he liked. He eventually left because insane X-Men fans wanted him to talk about George Floyd and compare real world race issues with some superhero comics and weigh in, OH GOD WHY ISNT HE WEIGHING IN PUBLICALLY??. It was really weird how fans dealt with that one. Vita Ayala, Tini Howard, Leah Williams - constantly interacting with fans, friends with many of them. A pretty cool thing really, but that shit started influencing their comics throwing in characters or scenes specifically to make some X-Men fan they know on Twitter squee real loud. Shatterstar is not your favorite AEW wrestler. We do not need a book of human X-Men fans who pretend to be mutants influenced by dorky X-Men fans online. We do not need longtime villain Apocalypse to become our "Blue Dad". Jordan White should be editing or at the very least reading any old X-Men comics instead of being on Twitter. We don't need to know what the X-Writers do on their Slack, or worse, what X-fans do on their own incestuous Slack. Gerry Duggan, a writer I loved and thought could do no wrong, joined this group and upped his Twitter usage and the brain rot commenced and his work was so influenced by it. I'll never forget when white people started using fuck around and find out on Twitter and then it was in like 3 of his books the next month. My point in this ramble is the books were being influenced by and written for the loudest X-Men fans on Twitter. The art was dead. The books were a product made in that echo chamber for that echo chamber. They got bad real fast because of our society's addiction to social media these days.

Now that the honeymoon phase is over and I've revisited a lot of these books I do still feel HoXPoX was a wonderful series, one of the best X-Men series, masterfully executed and a perfect jumping off point with so much to explore. I also see the usual Hickman faults. The my series starts some time later, not really addressing anything prior to it that all his books share, the insanely detailed long term plans that he nor the comics business machine will actually follow through on after a year or so, and the shadowy superior group of power that exists in all of his comics. The Moira retcon, while brilliant, quickly falls apart when they never develop her further, or deal with the fact Xavier and Magneto went on to have an entire publishing history knowing what amounts to their entire future until the Krakoa Age must be established. That never really worked and was ignored by the creators and fans alike, including me. So it never really worked from the jump.

Rather than keep the line condensed and maybe just let Hickman write his own story, they expand it out from there involving a bunch of different creators and new ongoings. Plenty of series to explore the ramifications of these retcons, the perceived ethnostate the mutants have established and their abandoning of the coexistent dream the X-Men always fought for, grappling with identity and what it means when death no longer matters, and the conflicts that would arise from having all these villains live with them now. Sadly we instead basically just got Utopia 2.0. Surface level shit where the mutants are on an island surviving that rarely ever went in on all the amazing story ideas we could have explored. But hey certain fans were happy because they could go "Hey Synch is here for a few panels!" or "this horrific out of character gladiator death ceremony is TOTALLY the same thing as my real life transitional phase". Nobody really wanted to question any of this in the comics or in real life. And hey sour grapes aside, we did get some cool stories and some fun character interactions and moments, mostly in the Hickman books. But even from the start, some of it is horrible, more of the same schlock - Fallen Angels a great example, or Hickman's more boring Giant Size issues or his Shi'ar issue, or half of every other title. What should have been being explored or dealt with in the text often went ignored and we got X-Men being superheroes or Otherworld nonsense, which at the time I ate up because I'm such a fan of the old Captain Britain material. Sadly that never really went anywhere either, just making nebulous dimensions that were out there somewhere, don't question it LOOK IT'S JIM JASPERS! ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED! Even things that should have been celebrated like Betsy and Rachel pushing through Gal Pals territory to being together felt largely flat and hollow and forced rather than natural or fun. And that was a common theme as it kept going. Everything felt forced, felt wrong, the writing felt amateurish and simple as it ignored more major issues or reasons to exist. Things just seemed to start happening for no real story reasons. No real further development or exploration. A ton of plots don't make sense as established history and characterization is thrown out the window. Nothing really matters. Rockslide is ruined forever just because. Arrako will never REALLY make sense, Loa and Mercury are psychopathic sex fiends, Pixie of all people is a callous death pervert, Banshee is a Ghost Rider, Warlock's doing something, Colossus joins the Quiet Council and just sits there, Children of the Atom is designated a "red" important book and does nothing of value or import, Moira gets pissy so she turns into a no shades of gray villain robot who skins her soul mate and wears his skin and joins Orchis, mutants are fucking so much and I guess just quickly going to term and they just abandon countless babies in the forest, Anole and a few others are brainless dolts who love the Shadow King, Onslaught is bouncing around, there's an old X-23, Synch is now the best and can recall any power ever magically but never talks to any member of his old team or deals with his death, Inferno as a whole essentially just didn't happen or matter, Sinister isn't Sinister at all he's a clone and there's 3 more of them, Casandra Nova is on a team, Doug knows secrets, Magneto buys a lighthouse, characters are randomly and indiscriminately put into The Pit, Shaw and Selene are maybe the only two villains ever that get examined in a way where maybe they shouldn't be buddy buddy with the X-Men - I need to stop now before I get more angry and depressed but I could go on and on and on. Point is things got bad. Like a ton of this was just bad writing and bad comics. I'm sorry. I get it. I was blinded too. I ignored things. I made my own head canons. I focused on the good stuff.

By the time Hickman actually announces he is leaving, things are already falling apart due to him and Marvel deciding to expand and stretch this shit out instead of just letting him do his shit and end it as a complete story or era. He does Inferno which as I said did nothing and didn't matter. It's good but it's a big ball of nothing. From there the books get worse and worse. Duggan's superhero X-Men book is fluff. Nearly every other series declines more and more. Hellions is a fun dark comedy, but sloppy and lacking that depth and exploration. Al Ewing's work tries hard to reach those Hickman highs and I found myself quite enjoying his work on SWORD and later on X-Men Red but mainly because it all ends up divorced from Krakoa as part of his larger Marvel Cosmic work, with great characterization. I really dig that work and it's common theme is really how off to the side not involved it is.

Later writers, including some real Literal Whos? and pretentious "novel authors" further dilute the line with their less talented work(I like Steve Orlando as a person but I desperately wish he'd try harder to write actual stories instead of being a human youtube video that summarizes obscure 90's comic characters for modern day zoomers). Kieron Gillen, bless him, tries to be the new Hickman and he does have some of the best Krakoa era material, but even he starts failing pretty badly. Sins of Sinister was a clusterfuck of boring nonsense for people who want to seem or sound smart, same goes for this current Dominion plot.

Looking at the art now I'm struck by how none of these characters are TRULY changed from this era, let alone had a lasting or defining story. It's crazy to me we went 5 whole years with this and really what has changed, ESPECIALLY with the current Orchis wrap-up story. X-Men fight some nasty humans who don't like them. We're back to that ALREADY. We aren't getting to the end of the Krakoan Era, we've been in it for quite some time. As I look at this art I see only 3 wholly new characters, which they'll be lucky if they are used after this. One of them is Pogg-Ur Pogg, a perfect example of this era. A big Aligator man, not much thought behind it, that fans LOVED. Sadly, he wasn't actually an alligator man. It was all a fakeout. That was some suit a little boring gremlin wore. A little boring gremlin. Nothing unique, nothing fun. Same old shit you've seen in thousands of comics. That's what the Krakoa Era was. Something that seemed SO DAMN COOL, SO DAMN THOUGHT OUT, but really it didn't have much thought behind it. It was a flashy suit of potential hiding the same old gremlin you've always seen. Even after the eternally online creators saw how popular he got, they didn't change any of this, they just thought we've got it. The suit/gremlin thing is good. It wasn't and they tried to bring it back for further stories but it was so lame at this point it was pathetic. Much like the repeated attempts to salvage and course correct after Hickman.

So here we are at the end. I can't believe I'm actually THANKFUL it is ending. That I actually want to regress and return to the X-Men as superheroes fighting their villains again. I've been rereading old X-books and I crave that big, bold excitement of what truly made the X-Men superhero team work. It's such a bummer and such a failure of execution with so many to blame. What DISGUSTS me so much is already seeing fans eulogize this era as perfection that was cut short by Marvel and not a fun experiment that was botched from the start. I'm with you, I was the biggest believer and supporter at the start. I joined Twitter, I examined every panel, made countless threads of discussion, debated and discussed every little thing with fellow fans. I wanted so much for this to be what it could be. Please, examine it honestly and critically. It's a failure. It's time to pull the plug.

It's ironic to me that I deleted my Twitter this year, the Krakoan age having the same amount of life my Twitter fandom life did. It went from such excitement and fun to soul sucking everyday nonsense. It seems fitting and emblematic of what this age was and turned into. This era, just like Twitter which influenced it so much, is/was a stupid, ugly, brain rotted mess dotted with sparing gold with the unrealized potential for so much more. I for one, welcome it.

Peace Out Krakoa Era, you won't be missed.

[mallowmelt-down]

I just went to see the Barbie movie for the second time and I’ve been wondering how the KOTLC gang would react to it so here’s my thoughts.

Keefe: He ordered an ‘I am Kenough’ sweatshirt before the credits even finished. He definitely says that Ken is literally him. He memorized Ken’s entire song and of course he used his mimicking skills to do it in Ryan Gosling’s voice. Secretly, it was hard for him as an Empath to watch the movie, especially with Sophie and her strong emotions sitting next to him.

Sophie: She thinks it’s an absolute masterpiece and 100% cried during the Billie Eilish song “What Was I Made For” given her own past with the Black Swan. Since none of her friends truly understands what it means to be human, she called Amy that night and they chatted about it for hours. She would definitely sneak out to the Forbidden Cities to see it again with Amy.

Fitz: He has had some experience with Barbie during his trips as a kid trying to find Sophie so he vaguely understands the importance of the movie. He respects it even though he didn’t relate to it. He pretends he understands the confusing human jokes despite the fact he doesn’t get it at all.

Biana: She totally fell in love with all the different fashions and tried to recreate some of the outfits afterwards. She found the human interpretation of mermaids hilarious when she saw mermaid Barbie. She was shocked by the treatment of women in the real world and had to ask her mom about it later.

Dex: He was forced to take the triplets with him so he spent most of the movie trying to get the three of them to stay in their seats. His favorite character was Allan and he broke into an ATM machine later so he could go buy an Allan doll. He noticed Sophie was sad after the movie so he dyed Iggy the Barbie pink color the next day to cheer her up.

Tam: He insists that he hated it and the pink gave him a headache but truthfully enjoyed the musical numbers and secretly added all the songs to his playlist. He will also put the songs on blast whenever he visits his parents to piss them off. Linh forced him to buy her a Barbie right after the movie.

Linh: She liked it and was very amused by the fake waves on the beach. She was disappointed to hear that the pooping dog Barbie toy was discontinued since she desperately wanted to buy it. She found some Barbie inspired pet outfits to force poor Princess Purrfins into later, with Tam’s reluctant help.

Marella: She loved all of it, especially the cute Kens. Dex helped her hack into the human Internet afterwards so she could read about all the drama behind the scenes. She spends an entire ability lesson with Fintan talking about it, much to Fintan’s disdain.

Wylie: He thought it was very thought provoking and Maruca teases him when he tries to analyze the deep symbolism of the movie with her. He decides to take an intensive human studies class after watching it and sees that there may be more to humans than he thought. Like many others, he cried over the idea of his mom being just a girl at some point in her life.

Maruca: She added a pink streak to her hair for a week afterwards. She really liked the Barbies’ blunt honesty during the Nobel Prize scenes. She later tried to make a smaller version of the pink Barbieland heart border with her Psionipath ability for fun.

Stina: She’ll tell Sophie it was a dumb human movie but genuinely enjoyed the human world scenes the most. She really related to Sasha the most.

Elwin: As the only adult who attended, he got the tickets for everyone, held seats, and made sure everyone had popcorn. His favorite character was weird Barbie and wants to start remodeling his house like hers. He joins Dex and buys as many Barbies as he can hold to take back to the Lost Cities. It was hard for him to watch as a doctor when Ruth said “Humans only have one end.”

Comment your own headcannons, I would love to see them!

[heart-of-the-morningstar]

I HAVE RETURNED FROM THE FNAF MOVIE AND I HAVE SOME THOUGHTS

✨ Non-spoiler section ✨

I had such a fun time with this movie! There were a ton of Easter eggs I caught and I’m sure there’s a few that I missed! My best advice for anyone wanting to see this movie is don’t take it super seriously, you’ll enjoy it more! The makers of this film weren’t lying when they said that they made this movie for the fans, I do feel like fans will enjoy this movie way more than a general audience and that’s perfectly fine! It’s campy at some parts and funnier than I thought it would be, but that’s what made it so fun! Now for the nitty-gritty…

❌ SPOILERS BELOW ❌

What I liked…

• First off, Matthew Patrick is a fucking LIAR! He does have a cameo in the movie, he says his iconic “That’s just a theory” line which was great! He’s a waiter at a diner, which leads me to my next point

• The diner was named “Sparky’s”, which I feel like only OG fans will get the reference. But for those of you who don’t know, back when FNAF 1 came out, there was a rumor of a secret/rare animatronic in the game called Sparky the Dog. There was a fake image floating around showing him standing in the door to parts and service. This was later confirmed to be fake. BUT! In the movie they also have a dog-looking animatronic in the parts and service room which absolutely took me out lol

• Acting was great! Everyone was fun to watch, Josh Hutcherson was a great lead as Mike and Piper Rubio was so sweet as Abby but I gotta give my props to Matthew Lillard towards the end of the movie, he looked like he was having so much fun being this unhinged monster! Speaking of…

• There is a spring lock scene!! It is real!! And God was it cathartic to watch! Obviously being PG-13, they couldn’t do blood and guts galore, but I think they managed to pull it off pretty well! Afton’s scene was definitely my favorite in the film hands down! And yes, he gets his “I always come back” line which put 5 years back on my life if I’m being honest lmao

• There is blood in this movie! Not a gratuitous amount, but it was enough for what they were going for I think! The kills of the people breaking to Freddy’s were more entertaining to watch than I thought! Especially Freddy’s kill…that caught me completely off guard lmao

• There aren’t too many jumpscares but that was fine with me! They do this repeat jumpscare with a little figurine of Balloon Boy like 3 times and I thought it was funny every time! They do a really good job with tension in this movie!

• The animatronics!!!! LOVED THEM!!!! They were so detailed and well designed, they were so fun to watch!! The Jim Henson company did an absolutely stellar job with the designs, I want to hug them 🥺

• So the story…I thought it was fine! They do stray from canon by making Vanessa Afton’s daughter in the movie instead of Mike being his son. They do confirm Afton was the one who kidnapped and killed Mike’s brother Garrett. The story is kind of left open ended as if they could continue the story (which I hope they do), but I think it leaves a more or less satisfying ending!

• There’s a minor mid-credit scene with Cory Kenshin and a secret message at the very end of the credits. I couldn’t hear it well but it’s spelled-out letters exactly like the ones from the death minigames in FNAF 2

• Yes, The Living Tombstone’s FNAF song is in the end credits, I felt my soul leave my body 😭

Minor Negatives…

• The story is slow at the beginning, it takes a little bit for anything super interesting to take place

• There are some plot points that don’t get explained or resolved (which is par for the course for FNAF) but that leads me to believe that they want to make sequels which I am all here for

• The Aunt Jane character wasn’t super important, she was fine, but she was there just to serve as an antagonist to Mike for a whole 5 minutes of the movie, if that

• I wanted so much more Afton/Spring Bonnie time, it was too short for me but I am happy with what I got. Also, he didn’t wear any purple in the movie which I think is a crime 😂

• Kind of wish there was an R rated version of this movie even though FNAF isn’t known for being bloody and gory, but some parts felt a little tame

• Also please correct me if I’m wrong but, they didn’t use the Toreador March music at all?? If I missed it, please tell me but I was waiting to hear it and it never came from what I remember

Speculation…

• So the biggest plot issue for me was that they never explained Afton’s intentions for killing. I think fans of the games know why he’s killing, but the general audience won’t. I’m sure it has something to do with the saw blade machine that tries to stuff your head into Freddy’s head. But it wasn’t clear. Vanessa never gave us a straight answer either even though she was in on it from the beginning.

• Towards the beginning of the movie, Abby is shown to be talking to her “invisible friend”, this is before Mike is hired as Freddy’s security guard. Turns out that friend is the ghost kid who possess Golden Freddy/Fredbear (again, isn’t clear lol). I wanna know why that kid showed up before Mike and Abby even went to the location??

• I may be reading too much into this, but when Mike goes in to get a new job after being fired from his mall security guard job, he’s talking to “Steve” and Steve does something interesting. He’s berating him for his inability to hold down a job, the he looks at his name on the file and just goes “…Mike S…” and just, doesn’t finish saying his name. He looks at Mike really weird like he’s trying to find something, and then just completely changes the subject. IDK, I’ll probably have to watch it again, and I think it would be a stretch to go the “Mike Afton” route especially since they established Vanessa was his kid. But ya never know with FNAF 😂

• Also the secret message that was spelled out at the end of the credits. If any of y’all know what they spelled, please tell me because I could not figure it out! I would love to know what it said!

Conclusion…

I just had a blast with this movie! I wasn’t sure what to expect with this movie but I think Blumhouse and everyone who worked on this movie did an amazing job, you can tell they put so much heart and soul into this! I will patiently be awaiting the announcement of the next movie until then!

Rating - 8.5/10

[respectthepetty]

That's My (Color) Candy - Part 2

In Part 1 of this color-coded journey, I explained that Jing is a Pink Person and Guy is a Blue Boy but they are about to break up . . . AGAIN because Guy keeps standing up Jing even though Guy is trying to save people's lives at the Candy Memorial Hospital.

One of those lives is Blue-Green Gentleman Viking's who got hit by a car, so now Viking's potential-boyfriend Red Rascal Tamtam is also about to break up with him too since he thinks Viking stood him up instead of thinking he is dying, which is reasonable.

But they aren't official yet, so Tamtam can't really break up with him, so he does a live stream and looks really really sad about it.

So thank goodness Guy and his medical crew sang some magical song to heal Viking so Tamtam could forgive him for almost dying.

And so he could take extra special care of Viking. Well, in theory anyway.

So Jing decides to forgive Guy for standing him up on his birthday since the life he saved was that of his favorite VJ (even though he knew Viking got hit by a car and Guy was saving him since he was the one who rescued Viking . . .)

So all's well, but Guy is down to one candy because his friend ate a piece and got a girlfriend out of it, then Guy gave a scary ghost girl, who was dressed in pink (???), the other piece.

Oh, then Tamtam gets upset AGAIN because while he is "taking care" of Viking in the hospital, he notices a guy named "Candy" keeps calling Viking.

But Candy is Viking's brother! So Tamtam's brother is ecstatic that his Blue-Green Gentleman x Red Rascal ship is setting sail!

Jing and Guy aren't so lucky though. They decide to go on a date, but to no one's surprise, Guy sees a woman in need of help. Jing tells Guy to pick between him and helping others, so Guy tells Jing he chooses him, only for Jing to tell him to help the woman. Mixed signals much?

Then Jing leaves and stays with Kana and his cool ass color charts.

Which pisses off Guy since he walks in on them looking very comfortable with each other. Guy and Jing argue, and Jing questions if Guy even knows his favorite color.

And the fact that Guy didn't immediately say "PINK" had be pressed, stressed, and completely in Jing's corner, so when Jing grabbed the last piece of candy and wished they had never met, I was all for it. Because of the wish, they run into each other, but they always walk away.

They no longer know each other and live happily ever after, not together, and no longer in love with each other.

The End!

SIKE!!!!!

It was all a film for Jing's final project at Candy University!

Jing really is a Pink Person, Guy really is a Blue Boy, and they really have been a couple for the past three years who are living with each other.

They are also very happy together and experience several "color exchanges" often. *wink*

And Viking and Tamtam are also real VJs and a happy Red Rascal x Blue-Green Gentleman couple.

Kana was never in love with Jing, there were never any issues between Jing and Guy, and everyone was happy because everything was fake and solely made up for the movie.

Yeah for fictional movies!

So Jing and Guy live happily ever after and grow old together still madly in love with each other.

And I get the tiniest crumb that Kana might actually be in a relationship with Dr. Pak who was a Blue Boy too and works with Guy. Look at Kana's colors. That's love. It's canon to me!

So . . .

I don't hate it.

Half of it did not make sense like the ghost girl, but I already knew the ending, so it helped me enjoy it more along the way. In the hospital, Jing slid across the floor in the most disco way possible, and Guy sang to heal Viking. Guy also mentioned a few times about being a character. It was obvious that this was a film, but only because I knew that. If I hadn't known that, I would have not enjoyed this show nearly as much. I laughed multiple times just because of how unserious it was, and I will be rewatching it.

But maybe I just liked it because I like this bike, I like this man, and they're both in my size color.

What can I say? I'm easy.

[barely-medi0cre]

George Michael Bluth

A Quick Look at one of my favorite characters

Arrested development is basically like a series of unfortunate events if it were made into an adult comedy.

So the sadder parts are all left as jokes or punchlines.

When really, if it were a drama, the characters would appear completely different.

George Michael is a key example of this, he’s held to almost perfection standards by his dad, who he also would spend all his time with until he gets a girlfriend. Like his dad makes him go on atkins for literally no reason and he clearly hates it but is too scared to say anything.

Or when he gets an A- on a test (still an A though) and when he comes home and shows his dad and says “I got an A!” And his dad keeps cutting him off and saying “minus” before telling him to get back to his room and study. Later his dad walks in on him studying and literally beating himself up over not getting a problem, calling himself stupid over and over again.

Of course, this is the episode where Michael (his dad) and Lindsey (Michael’s twin) are arguing over parenting. She says he’s too strict and is going to give George Michael a nervous breakdown. Naturally, after walking in on George Michael beating himself up, he tells him to stop and go do something fun. George Michael is very reluctant because he never really does that. He ends up going right to work, because he doesn’t have anything else to do.

Naturally, during this short period of parental freedom, George Michaels uncle Buster (the one who still lives with his mother and is basically a toddler) comes to see him at work to ask him for drugs. Michael has always taught George Michael that “family first” is the most important rule, so of course he keeps it a secret at busters request and tries to get drugs for him. This leads to him going to his uncle Gob, leaving a note asking for drugs, leading to a whole mix up where Michael thinks that he gave George Michael too much freedom and has now caused his son to develop a drug habit.

Rising action, rising action, climax where everything comes to a head with fake cops and real cops and fake drugs and real drugs and weird misunderstandings until everything is laid out, all is forgiven, and things go back to normal

However, since this show is a comedy show, we don’t focus on the fact that George Michael never actually was able to utilize the freedom his dad had given him, instead opting to use his newly free time to take on a really big favor from his family member instead of doing something for himself

His gimmick is that he’s awkward, and comparatively uptight to Maeby’s street smarts and irresponsibility. It creates a fun dynamic for comedy stories, but when you watch it as many times as I have you start to see some of the more serious character traits that are glossed over

This back and forth can only continue if there is no real character development in each of the ensemble members, hence the end of an episode essentially hitting reset on shenanigans for everyone. George Michael is a great character for that because even during the one chance he had to be free or do something for himself, he yet again took on a task that someone in his family asked him to do and assumed he could do it. So when those opportunities of development present themselves, realistically he wouldn’t take them. And if he did, his character development would have to be so minute that it’s barely noticeable.

If this show were a drama, I think there would be considerable emphasis placed on the parallels of George Sr’s relationship with Michael and Michael’s relationship with George Michael. Animosity about the relationship between Michael and George Michael is only brought to Michael’s attention in season four when he is told that is the father-son relationship Ron Howard wanted to make a movie about.

[arabian-batboy]

So several people have asked me about my opinion about James Gunn making a live-action Batman & Robin movie centered on Bruce and Damian that’s based on Grand Morrison and Tom King runs, I already shared what I thought on twitter, but to summarize it: this is the worst news I have heard while in this fandom and if this movie happens, Damian’s and Talia’s characters will forever be ruined.

As all of you know, movies always have a massive effect on how the general public view comic characters for many years after the drop, even if their portrayal in the movie was a complete 180° change from their usual selfs. I mean look at how much damage the animated movies have done to these characters’ reputation? Now imagine what a live-action Batman movie would do, whatever “The Brave and the Bold” will do to Talia and Damian, it will easily stick to their image for 10+ years and will most likely influence the comics to imitate the movie and change their portrayal in them in a way that align with the movie, again, even if it’s completely different or regressive for their characters.

Then you have all the red flags from Gunn’s statement, first of all he’s influenced by MORRISON’S and KING’S runs? That’s the biggest red flag of them all, because if you like these two characters then you would know that these runs are hands dow the worst possible combination you could pick as an adaptation and somehow Gunn’s managed to choose both of them, seriously all that is left is for him to reference Teen Titans: Rebirth and its over for us.

I have already went on and on about how Morrison’s racist treatment of Talia is the definition of character-assassinations and how till this day her reputation hasn’t recovered yet from it, there might have been some progress lately, but it will all go through the drain if this movie happens because I don’t see Gunn’s, how sings so much praise about Morrison’s run, will bothering fixing the racist caricature that Morrison created, especially since the whole point of Talia in this run is to give angst to Damian’s backstory and portray Bruce as the superior parent compared to her (and don’t let me get started on King’s proud-ex-CIA-agent ass and HIS racism)

So yeah, unless they plan on using another character as the big bad of the movie, which I don’t see happening, because what other character has personal ties to both Bruce and Damian and can be used as an antagonist other than Talia? Then the real Talia is gone forever, she will officially never escape Morrison’s character-assassination (at the very least, they can change her drugging Bruce to her faking a miscarriage like in the original comic, since that part is not REALLY important to story, but I highly doubt it....)

Then we get to Damian......look at all the words Gunn used? Do I need to say more? Some people are actually excited that he claimed that Damian is apparently his favorite Robin, but looking at the way he described Damian here its clearly evident that he likes him for all the wrong reasons, which I would argue is worse than hating him and that he doesn’t understand his nuance or any of his best qualities.

I can already predict what he will do with his character: he’s gonna go look for the whitest White boy in the world, cast him as Damian, immediately drench him in hair gel, then have him act as the most arrogant, stuck-up, obnoxious, disrespectful brat imaginable which in turn will influence the comics to reset his character to that again for the 574th time in a row (and of course you will have fans of other characters going ""look at Damian always being favored by DC per usual!!" without realizing that this is basically a death sentence to his character forever)

Some argue that this is how Damian’s character started out like before he started his development so its alright and to that I say: 1- even in the beginning, his character wasn’t this exaggerated and he still had some redeeming qualities 2- his development happened in a slow and steady pace in stories that mostly had no Bruce 3- he started out as Dick’s Robin and had already established a relationship with every Batfam’s member as well as his place in Gotham City before he got to spend any time with Bruce, which is something the movie will obviously skip.

Also the keyword here is "development."

The problem is that so many people, including Gunn, can't comprehend that Morrison’s Damian is supposed to be Damian at the very beginning of his development, in their minds, Morrison’s Damian is "default" Damian who acts like that all the time and Gunn’s might like Morrison’s Damian just the way he is, so I don’t see him bothering to develop Damian’s character nor do I believe that he has enough time to do so in one movie (lets be real its not like they will dedicate several movies for Damian’s alone) and as an already overly-hated character who constantly get portrayed as a brat that needs to be humbled, a movie based on his fist appearances is the last thing he needs right now.

It will just reaffirm what his haters think, that he was always a rude brat and he will always remain a rude brat and again, this will unavoidably influence the comics to reset his character (which is something the comics have already been doing constantly without the influence of a big blockbuster movie) to the characterization of his first appearance for the millionth time.

Like I said, this is the worst news I have ever received regarding these characters, I know I’m always being dramatic whenever I don’t like the treatment of Talia and Damian, but this is probably it for me. If this movie happens (and I pray it gets canceled/changed to something else in these 3 upcoming years) and it ends up being as bad as I think it would be, then I will probably lose all interest in DC as a whole, my standards were already at rock-bottom, but even I wouldn’t be able to enjoy their characters anymore at this point.

[random-meme-bot]

My sister and I just finished binging the entirety of "Scott Pilgrim Takes Off" and I need to ramble about it.

SPOILER WARNING

It was REALLY good!!!

The show lowers your guard with this fake sense of familiarity, the first chapter is basically an adaptation of the first comic (just really condensed so it could fit mostly everything important in a bit over 25 minutes) up until the show removes the carpet from under you and decides to kill Scott during his first battle with the league of evil exes.

From there on out the show reveals that it's not actually an adaptation, it's actually an entirely original story that's just based on the same world and characters.

And Oooh Boy was it good, having Ramona be the main character of the show was a very welcome surprise, and the show instead of being about Scott growing as a person and facing his past as well as Ramona's it's about her being forced to face her past and grow, and the show pulls this off really well, we found ourselves actually investmed on the exes and their stories, a group of characters that before were mostly just generic bad guy.

Not all of them are great though, I found Todd's & Wallace's romance plot to work a lot worse than the plot he had in the comics with Envy, his entire thing in the comics was that he let power get on his head and because he thought he was better than everyone else he cheated on Envy and broke Vegan code, 2 things that in the end lead to his downfall.

In the show he's actually a nice dude who gets a crush on Wallace, cheats on Envy not because of ego but love, and only breaks Vegan code after Wallace dumps him, he's way too nice of a guy, and on the other side of the spectrum during this whole plot they decided to turn Wallace into a villain for some reason, he's the one who is actually taking advantage of Todd and when Envy confronts him about it he pulls the "fight my stun double's" thing from the second evil ex(movie only) and forces Ramona to fight them for no real reason since she had nothing to do with this love triangle.

The other Evil Ex who I didn't like as much was Gideon, who they tried to make a sympathetic villain but it just doesn't work, like you cannot tell me this is the same guy who made a weapon that traps you in your head with your own problems as a means to keep Ramona captive in an abusive relationship. (The Glow also doesn't get referenced even once in the show which I thought it was a bit weird)

But apart from those two and Wallace for a bit, I loved every character in the show and their portrait.

One thing to note is that I feel the show basically requires that you to be a fan of the franchise to get the most out of it.

There are a ton of twist that only work if you already know the story, a bunch of jokes and references to the comics/movie/game get lost, and the main twist villain is basically a metareference to the whole discourse about how movie Scott didn't grow as a person and how awful he is yet still got the girl.

Also the twist that it was future Scott doesn't work without previous context because before that twist we only got one episode to get to know Scott.

To wrap up this very messy rambling about a new story based on one of my favorite comic series, my least favorite movies, and a game that was OK (beat em ups aren't my thing but that's not really the games fault).

Amazing show and definitely worth a watch if you're a fan of the original story 8.5/10

Would recommend waiting until you've read the comics and watched the movie before checking the show if you aren't that familiar with Scott Pilgrim 6.5/10

[amethystina]

I was tagged by @a-very-fond-farewell! Thank you so much darling 💜

1. Last song: Shishen Take On the Challenge from The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity soundtrack (which I paid a small fortune to get my hands on so you bet I've been listening to it almost non-stop ever since. The music is SO FUCKING GOOD OKAY)

2. Favorite color: Purple — which I feel should come as a surprise to no one xD

3. Currently watching: The Killing Vote, because I apparently need more dramas where the Korean public is allowed to vote on whether or not to execute people. Quite enjoying it so far! The characters are a hoot xD And I'm curious to see what they do with the Kwon Seok Joo dude.

I also just started The Guest because I want to watch it before they remove it from Netflix but BOI. That's not one I'll be able to binge, that's for sure. Horror is great but also, well, terrifying x'D

Though, I must say, I might have to take a detour and rewatch the Along With the Gods movies. I've been meaning to do so for ages and seeing Kim Dong Wook in The Guest makes the urge even stronger. Because, let me tell you, I'm SO EAGER to rewatch the movies and observe the characters now that I've seen the twist at the end of the second movie. A twist I figured out before I actually reached the reveal, sure, but I don't think that's a bad thing? Like, for real, guys. The AUDIBLE GASP I let out when I realised what the twist was going to be and then got to sit there and see it slowly dawn on the other characters? BEAUTIFUL. And it CHANGES SO MUCH. Like, I need to rewatch them because so much of what I thought I knew is now a lie! Circumstances have changed! My initial analysis might be wrong! Characters I thought I knew are now completely different! I need to do more research! I NEED TO KNOW.

(This is what happens when your brain works like mine. And one day I might tell you all about why Kang Yo Han is such a fascinating character to me, because, let me tell you, I've rarely seen a character remain so solid in his characterisation even through the kind of reveals we're given in the drama. It's fucking SPECTACULAR)

4. Currently reading: Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (I do it in bursts because it's not the kind of book I can just binge, okay? x'D), We Have Always Lived In the Castle by Shirley Jackson (I would have finished this LONG ago if it didn't give me so much anxiety (but in a good way?)) and Eld by Mats Strandberg and Sara Bergman Elfgren (though I should probably start over on this one since I was very distracted when I read the first chapter)

5. Last movie: No Regret, because why not dabble in older Korean LGBTQ+ content? It was a ride, that's for sure xD And the next movie will be The World to Come (also one I want to watch before it's removed from Netflix)

6. Sweet/spicy/savory: Either sweet or savoury — it depends on my mood, really.

7. Relationship status: Married! :D

8. Current obsession: I'm not sure if I have one right now? Though I am hoping to get back on track with that diorama thing soon. I've almost collected all the materials I need! I just need fake foliage (preferably red) and I'm going to try and buy that either tomorrow or on Saturday.

9. Last thing you googled? Why my phone kept taking only green photos. And everyone kept telling me I shouldn't have unlocked the bootloader (which I don't think can be done by accident and I sure as hell haven't done it intentionally) so in the end I just restarted it and now it works just fine xD

10. Selfie: I don't really take selfies but here's a cropped version of a drawing WIP of mine.

If you know, you know ;)

(... LOOK, the suspender-pulling had to happen eventually, okay?)

11. Currently working on: Chapter 5 of A New Dawn (Begins With Us) and, after that, it'll be either chapter 37 of Who Holds the Devil or maybe the sequel to Gravitational Pull which I'm STILL struggling to find the time to work on. I'm also working on, like, six different drawings simultaneously. Because why make things easy for myself?

Tagging: Whoever wants to do it! Tell me about yourself! :D

[madamegemknight]

I've finally watched the Muppets 2011 with my dad, and it was a blast!! I love its sense of humor (seriously, that Muppet man joke had me CACKLING), and it's so heart-warming in its simplicity and having a good time despite the trials the Muppets went through... I feel like I can't wipe this smile off my face (ehe)

Do you have any other Muppet or puppet media you'd recommend? I thought I'd ask you since you're the resident puppet expert, and I've been wanting to get into more puppet-related stuff :P

OH YAYYYY I’m so glad you liked it!!

And I do have other Muppet/puppet media I would recommend, thank you so much for asking (and gosh I am incredibly flattered you consider me the resident puppet expert). This is going to be LONG (sorry about that in advance), so under the cut it goes!

First off, I’d recommend the sequel to Muppets 2011, Muppets Most Wanted! It’s about the Muppets going on a world tour after getting back together in the previous movie, only for a criminal mastermind named Constantine (who looks exactly like Kermit) to hijack the tour, sending the real Kermit to prison and pretending to be Kermit so he can hide from the law and use the tour as a chance to steal the Crown Jewels. It’s a really great comedy heist that’s also an INCREDIBLE musical, and it has the same humor and sense of heart that Muppets 2011 has. I haven’t seen it in a while, but I have incredibly fond memories of watching it with my sibling when we were younger, and I think you would really enjoy it.

I would also recommend the original Muppet Show! I haven’t finished watching it yet (I’m on season 4 of 5 at the moment) but it’s a really fun show that serves as a love letter to old vaudeville theater and is just consistently entertaining. There’s no overarching plot and you can pretty much watch any episode in any order, though I would suggest that if you’re interested in checking it out, you watch the Harry Belafonte episode first - it’s regarded by a lot of fans (including me) as being the best episode of the series, and gives a very good idea of what the rest of the show is like.

(Also I HIGHLY recommend you watch the pitch reel for The Muppet Show, which you can find on YouTube here. It’s not essential viewing by any means, but it’s very funny and gives a bit of context for what the field of entertainment was like at the time the show was pitched)

The original trilogy of Muppet films are also absolutely stellar. The Muppet Movie is the story of how the Muppets got together, The Great Muppet Caper is essentially an AU where Fozzie and Kermit are brothers working for a newspaper and trying to prove Miss Piggy innocent of a jewel robbery, and Muppets Take Manhattan is essentially an AU where the Muppets were all friends in college and are trying to put on a show in New York. The original trilogy films are really fun in my opinion because they play fast and loose with what’s real and what’s fake; Kermit admits at the beginning of The Muppet Movie that it’s only an approximate retelling of how the Muppets actually got together, and the other two movies in the trilogy are telling completely separate stories than the main Muppet timeline, with The Great Muppet Caper even having an entire song devoted to telling the audience that it’s just a movie and that it isn’t actually canon. They all have INCREDIBLE soundtracks, too, the songs from these movies are some of my favorite Muppet songs ever.

Fraggle Rock isn’t really considered a piece of Muppet media anymore, since when Disney bought the rights to the Muppets they didn’t bother buying it as well, but it was originally a Muppet production and all of the stuff I watched as a kid referred to it as a Muppet production, so I’m counting it as a Muppet production still lol. Fraggle Rock is an absolutely amazing show on all levels; the puppetry is great, the songs are all stellar, the characters are so well-written, and despite being a show aimed at kids it never talks down to its audience, handling serious issues like death and prejudice with the respect they deserve. It’s probably best to go into Fraggle Rock as blind as possible (unlike The Muppet Show, there is an overarching story, though you don’t really find out that there is one until towards the end of Season 1) so all I’ll say is that it’s probably one of my favorite Muppet productions ever and that the finale, without exaggeration, made me cry for 30 minutes straight. There’s also a Fraggle Rock reboot called Fraggle Rock: Back to The Rock, and while I personally don’t think it’s as good as the original series, it’s still REALLY amazing and you can tell that the team working on it really cares about the og series. If you do end up watching Fraggle Rock, I’d recommend the reboot as well!

Getting into a bit more obscure territory here, but Tales From Muppetland: The Frog Prince is very near and dear to my heart. It’s a Muppet retelling of the Frog Prince fairytale, with the twist that the princess has been cursed by the same witch that the frog prince has been cursed by! The relationship between Prince Robin and Princess Melora is really cute, and it’s clear that the two of them really care for each other. I love the changes that it makes to the original fairytale, too; I mentioned the twist of Melora also being cursed, which gives her and Robin the chance to bond and leads to a very sweet song about finding someone who understands who you are and what you’ve gone through, but the story is also altered so that Robin explains why he needs Melora to kiss him instead of hiding the fact that he’s a prince from her - she doesn’t believe him, but I’m glad they made that change regardless. The witch is also a really fun villain! She’s reused from a previous Muppet production (Tales of The Tinkerdee) that was meant to be a pilot for a planned show but was never picked up, and I’m really glad she got a chance to shine in something that was actually officially released.

Sam and Friends is the first ever Muppet series, debuting in 1955, and while most of it is unfortunately lost media there are a couple episodes you can find online! I really like Sam and Friends (I have a book all about the making of the show), and I would recommend it both as a way to look at how far television puppetry has come and as just a genuinely very entertaining show in its own right - plus, the episodes are only 5 minutes long, so you can get through all the available episodes pretty quickly. My personal favorite episode is “Powder Burn,” a parody of the show Gunsmoke.

Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas is probably one of my favorite Christmas specials ever, despite me only watching it for the first time this past December. It’s a very earnest and emotional story about a family (Emmet Otter and his mother Alice Otter) living in poverty after the death of Emmet’s father. Both Emmet and Alice want to be able to give each other a good Christmas present, so they both enter the local talent contest on Christmas Eve in order to win the cash prize without telling each other. The soundtrack is done by the same man who did the soundtrack for The Muppet Movie (Paul Williams), and is just GORGEOUS - it manages to be silly and heartfelt at the same time, and does some really interesting stuff with the instrumentals, like having a kazoo solo during one of the more somber songs which somehow actually works! Like Fraggle Rock, it it isn’t afraid of tackling serious issues like death and poverty, and like Fraggle Rock, it made me bawl like a baby.

Finally, I would recommend both the documentary Of Muppets and Men and the Jim Henson Hour episode “Secrets of The Muppets” (I sadly haven’t watched enough of The Jim Henson Hour to give a proper recommendation, but from the little I’ve seen it’s very good). Both of these tackle the behind the scenes of working on the Muppets, with Of Muppets and Men being about the making of The Muppet Show specifically and “Secrets of The Muppets” being a general overview of the stuff the Muppets had done up to that point. I completely understand if you don’t want to see the behind the scenes workings of the Muppets (my mom doesn’t like seeing that kind of thing either and I get why), but if you do want to see it I can’t recommend these two enough. They do an excellent job at introducing and highlighting the skills of the troupe of Muppet performers, detailing specific tricks of puppeteering, and showing how everything comes together.

There’s definitely more Muppet media I want to recommend, but if I did so we’d be here FOREVER, and I still haven’t gotten to the puppet media recommendations! This list does serve as a pretty good starting point though - if you like Frog Prince and Jug-Band Christmas you’ll probably like the rest of the Tales From Muppetland specials, if you like one of the original trilogy of Muppet movies you’ll probably like the others in the trilogy, if you like Sam and Friends you’ll probably like the Muppets’ appearances on shows like the Ed Sullivan Show or the Jimmy Dean show that they made during that period, etc. Most of this stuff is on YouTube or the Internet Archive, but if you’re looking for something specific and can’t find it, let me know and I’ll do my best to locate it 👍

AND NOW AFTER 50 MILLION PARAGRAPHS WE ARE ON TO THE PUPPET MEDIA IN GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS

I have to start this list off with my favorite movie of all time, The Dark Crystal. It’s a fantasy epic done entirely with puppets, and it is utterly gorgeous. All of the puppets are so detailed (I had the absolute blessing to see some of them when a local museum held a puppetry exhibit and the sheer amount of tiny details you can’t even SEE in the film are incredible), the world is so richly developed, the soundtrack is absolutely top-tier, and the amount of innovations in puppetry that this film causes are mind-blowing. There are traditional puppets, people in suits, radio-controlled puppets…the list goes on! I cannot recommend The Dark Crystal enough, it means so much to me and is probably the reason I’m so obsessed with puppets in the first place. It also has a prequel on Netflix called Age of Resistance - like the Fraggle Rock reboot, I don’t think it’s as good as the og, but it’s still absolutely stunning and the team working on it clearly cares about the world of the original film. Sadly, the prequel was cancelled after only one season :( I still recommend it if you like the film, but just go into it knowing that it’s gonna end on a cliffhanger.

The Little Shop of Horrors movie has an absolutely AMAZING puppet in the form of Audrey II, the film’s main antagonist. There are multiple Audrey II puppets, as the character grows throughout the entire film, and the biggest one required over 50 puppeteers to operate. There are no opticals or blue screens used for Audrey II (except for one scene at the very end of the film that they had to reshoot), and the effect is mind blowing. Little Shop is an absolutely incredible film overall, too, and thankfully doesn’t use Audrey II as a selling point or a gimmick - the puppet is incorporated very naturally into the film, and you appreciate the puppetry much more as a result.

I haven’t watched Labyrinth, but my sibling has and they really like it! From what I’ve seen of the puppetry, it’s really well done, and the movie seems very fun. Sorry I can’t give a better recommendation than that lol.

If we’re counting stop-motion animation as a form of puppetry (which I personally do considering the models are typically referred to as puppets), then I absolutely recommend checking out the work of LAIKA, which includes productions such as Coraline and Kubo and The Two Strings. I also highly recommend Wendell and Wild, made by former LAIKA supervising director Henry Selick, as well as Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. All of these films are stunning, and they absolutely deserve the hype that surrounds them.

This one is a bit more preschool-centric, but when I was very little I was OBSESSED with Johnny and The Sprites, and having watched a bit of it again recently, I feel it still holds up somewhat for older audiences. It’s a show about a musician named Johnny who moves to a house in the woods in order to focus on his music only to find that the house is next to Grotto’s Grove, where a species of fairy-like beings called the Sprites live. The series is focused on Johnny teaching the Sprites about human stuff and the Sprites teaching Johnny about Sprite stuff in turn. It’s a very cute and charming show :3

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum is Mystery Science Theater 3000, a show about a man trapped in space with 4 robot companions and forced to watch bad movies as part of an evil science experiment. It’s very goofy and very immature at times, and 99% of the time you need a guide to understand the stuff they reference, but it’s great regardless, and despite being very simple the puppets are really well-designed. Unfortunately, one of the characters is named after the ethnic slur used against Romani people in the show’s original run; it wasn’t done out of any intentional malice and the creators changed her name when the show was revived and viewers expressed their concern, but if that sours your opinion on watching the original show I completely understand.

Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared is a classic, and for good reason - both the original webseries and the tv show riff off of and play with the stereotypes of traditional children’s puppet shows, while still clearly respecting the art of puppetry and giving it their own unique spin. It’s definitely on the spookier/gorier side of things, so MASSIVE content warning if you want to check it out, but DHMIS is very good and I adore it.

And with that, this very very very VERY long list comes to an end. I definitely didn’t mention everything that I wanted to - there are some excellent pieces of puppet media, like Starkid’s Starship, that I just haven’t gotten around to watching and thus can’t properly recommend - but like with the Muppet section, I’d suggest using this as a starting point. There’s a TON of puppet media out there, and this is just scratching the surface!

I hope this list helps, and that you find something on here that you enjoy :D

[hollowsart]

okay so, I was scrolling through the Quentin Beck tag (since the Mysterio tag is full of porn bots), and you kept coming up-

basically, I agree with you on that the MCU Mysterio isn't that great, however I actually kinda like the philosophy behind it-

At his core, Mysterio was always about trickery, and amazing practical effects. Hell, in my opinion, he's almost on par with Spider Man-

Because think about it. Not only was he able to create a spray to neutralize the Web Slinger's WEBS, he also made a fool of him for a good while too-

Not only that, he was smart enough to use his knowledge to create a convincing enough facsimile that the entirety of new York thought that Spider Man had turned evil-

Granted, he wasn't able to make the real web fluid, but that's just because he didn't go into chemistry, he went into practical effects-

One of my favorite of his comics is the one where he made an alien invasion SO CONVINCING, THE AVENGERS THEMSELVES WERE OVERWHELMED. That's amazing, for who's essentially a regular-ass guy-

Now, what do we do with someone who's based around practical effects, but where technology is vastly outpacing it? Well, we give him technology!

And I think the core of Mysterio's character is still in the movie. I don't think he'd expose Spiderman, but with the drones? Rigging everything up? Taunting spiderman, torturing him, even to the point of making him walk in front of a train? That scene was AMAZING, and genuinely difficult to watch for me-

I must reiterate that I have never watched FFH so I do not know most of what you're saying right now dnsbdvsjfmns

Mysterio has always used technology, tho. Even way back in the early comics he's used technology. He's got things in his eye clasps that act as a secondary filter to Spiderman's spidey sense.

The hallucinogens and other gases/smokes he's used + the spray to dissolve Spiderman's webs would also imply he knows at least enough chemistry to create such things. He just focuses more on his prime abilities and knowledge of practical and special effects to do most everything else.

Not to mention his multiple uses of androids/robots, holograms, smoke machines.. etc. You can't make special and practical effects without a bit of technology.

However, CGI/computer based effects/filters are something he can't use unless he wanted to make a fake and convincing video for the media or someone for any number of reasons. I feel he would only use CGI if desperate and has no other options. He is much more determined to use practical and special effects and other physical things to get the job done how he wants it.

CGI would feel very cheap when it's more impressive that he was capable of all these feats using practical and special effects overall.

He really is on par with Spiderman. Even tho Spiderman pulls his punches, Mysterio is still able to hold his own long enough in a fight. (Sure, he may have a special tricked out suit with padding and other things for stunt work and protecting himself, but it's still impressive he's able to hold out as long as he does sometimes)

The fact that he isn't so cowardly to hide and have another one of his illusions (mannequin, robot, hologram, etc) take his place when fighting Spiderman in most cases is something I appreciate, too.

[griffin-girl-r]

You're safe with me

Created: 05.05.2022

Finished: 05.05.2022

Edited: 11.09.2023

Age: 15

Word count: 1,292

Warnings: Horror movie, Panick attack

Detka = Baby

Request: Yes (Tumblr user)

Summary: You watch a horror movie behind your mother's back.

—

"Can I? Please!" You looked at your mom with the biggest puppy eyes you could muster

"No! Absolutely not!" Natasha shouted

"But Mama, it's just a movie. What could possibly happen?!" You whined

"It's a horror movie, Y/N. The last time you watched this type of movie you slept in my room for a full week with the lights on. So no. Why don't we watch 'Cinderella'?" She suggested

"Really?! 'Cinderella'? That's Sam's favorite movie. You're ruining all the fun." You got up from the sofa and started to make your way out of the livingroom

"Where are you going?!" Natasha called after you

"My room! If I can't see what I want then I'm going to sleep."

—

Half an hour later Natasha came to check on you and see what you are doing. To her surprise, you were sleeping.

Actually, you were not sleeping but faking it.

A lot of people would say that it's almost impossible to trick an ex-Russian spy and assassin that on top of all it's your mother but your big advantage it's exactly the fact that you are her daughter. She trained you, taught you all her tricks, and showed you how to master them. Faking sleep was way too easy for you.

—

After she kissed your head, Natasha made her way towards her own bedroom.

Natasha's bedroom was right next to yours even though she could have any room in this big compound, she picked the one closer to yours.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y.?" You whisper shout to the A.I. after a few minutes of silence

"Yes, Miss Romanoff?" Tony's A.I. answered

"What's my mom doing right now?" You questioned

"It appears that Miss Romanoff had just fallen asleep." F.R.I.D.A.Y. said the words you hoped to hear "That would be all young Miss Romanoff?

"Yes, F.R.I.! Thank you!" You thanked the A.I. as you picked the TV's remote

Even though your mother said 'no' you wanted so badly to see this horror movie so you could talk with your friends about it tomorrow.

You made yourself comfortable as the movie 'Annabelle' started to play.

—

You got almost through all the movie getting a little scared here and there but you managed to keep watching it.

The movie was almost over when the last scary scene came up.

It was the scene where everything got an unexpected turn and you, being too focused on keeping up with what happened, got scared when from nowhere that cursed doll showed up in front of the main character.

You screamed so loud that if the other Avengers wouldn't have had their rooms soundproofed, they would have been sure that something horrible happened.

Jumping out from your bed, you crawled until you reached the closest corner and you sat there, hugging your knees.

—

Thankfully, Natasha never keeps her room soundproofed for that exact reason. To be able to hear you if you call for her from your room.

She jumped awake and without even realizing it, she was running from her room to yours with the speed of light.

Natasha opened your door ready to fight with anything that could have been behind that door.

Instead, she saw you rocking yourself back and forth, crying with your knees closer to your chest.

From the corner of her eye, she could see the very last scene of the movie she told you not to watch playing and she instantly relaxed, figuring out that there was no real danger.

She made her way to you with a disappointed face, ready to lecture you but when she saw your state she gave up on the thought for the moment.

"Detka? Look at me. Look at Mama. You're okay. You're safe. I'm here. Can I get closer?" Natasha softly called you

You lifted your head and found Natasha crunched to your level, just a few inches separating you from her.

"Mama?" Your voice broked and you jumped in her arms, tightly clinging to her, seeking protection

"Shhh, baby. You're safe. I'm here and nothing can harm you as long as I'm with you."

You kept crying as Natasha lifted you and carried you to your bed.

To you, it looked like something was hiding in the few shadows of your room, waiting for your mom to get away from you so it could attack.

—

Laying you on top of her, Natasha started to softly run her fingers through your hair in an attempt to calm you and assure you.

"It was just a movie, my love. Nothing's going to happen. It's not real. Don't cry." She tried to comfort you but wasn't exactly sure what scared you "You're safe with me. And I won't let anything happen to you as long as I'm alive."

After some time in which you cried and Natasha kept hugging you and comforting you, your cries turned to sniffles and then silence.

Your mom thought that you had fallen asleep but she only sighed when she felt your hold around her tighten. A clear sign that you are pretty much awake and scared.

—

Natasha ended up staying up all night only to be able to watch over you so you could know that she was there, ready to protect you from any harm. Real or not.

It wasn't until the sunrise that you dared to close your eyes, feeling safe enough in your mom's embrace, knowing she was awake.

As soon as you closed your eyes, you fell into a deep sleep, the exhaustion of last night's events catching up with you.

—

It was way past mid-afternoon when you woke up.

To your relief, you were still in Natasha's arms and she was as awake as she was in the morning when you went to sleep, still watching over you.

"Hi, baby. Are you feeling any better?" Tiredness could be heard in her voice but she masked it all with a sweet smile

"Yes. Thank you, Mama." You didn't dare to look at her knowing that it was your fault that she hadn't gotten any sleep

"Can we talk about the fact that you watched the movie I specifically told you not to watch behind my back?" Natasha's voice was more serious

"I'm so sorry, Mama. But Peter and Kate said that I'm such a coward if I don't watch it and that I'm not worthy of being your daughter if I get scared by a simple movie."

"They said what?!" She almost yelled

"Yeah. So I had to watch it. I'm so sorry for not listening to you, Mama. Could you please forgive me?" You looked at her with the biggest puppy eyes "Please?"

Natasha sighed and pulled you into a hug.

"I forgive you. Even though I'm a bit disappointed that you didn't listen to me." She kissed the side of your head "I'm also going to have a talk with Kate and Peter. And you're grounded."

"What?! Why?! You just said you forgive me." You shoot up and looked into her eyes

"I said I forgive you for watching the movie behind my back but I did not say I forgive you for scaring me like you did last night. No TV for the next 2 weeks." Natasha gave you her famous smirk

"Mama!" You protested but didn't dare to go against her

Your mother laughed and hugged you again.

"I love you so much, Y/N. Please don't do something like that again. Okay? I was so scared that something actually happened to you." Natasha whispered in your hairline

"I won't, Mama. I promise." You smiled as you got comfortable in her embrace

There was no place on Earth where you felt more safe and protected than in your mom's arms. That will never change.